October 23, 2015

ISRS Consensus Statement on Coral Bleaching and Climate Change

Leading up to the Paris Climate Change conference at the end of November, the International Society for Reef Studies has prepared a consensus statement (authored by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the University of Queensland, with Mark Eakin, Reef Check's Gregor Hodgson and Charlie Veron, and reviewed by a large team) on the current scientific view of the impact of climate change on coral reefs. The conclusion of this group is that the targets being proposed for Paris will NOT reduce greenhouse gas emission NOR limit temperature rise to the degree required to prevent widespread coral reef decline in the foreseeable future. The rapidly developing Global Coral Bleaching Event, which threatens to be more serious than even the 1998 event, likely heralds further severe decline of coral reefs as a result of climate change.

Click here to read the statement:
http://coralreefs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ISRS-Consensus-Statement-on-Coral-Bleaching-Climate-Change-FINAL-14Oct2015-HR.pdf
 

Bleaching coral reef in American Samoa, 2015 (photo: XL Catlin Seaview Survey)